One of the biggest stories in today's newspaper "broke" yesterday in the Boston Herald. It said Loudon, N.H., NASCAR track owner Bob Bahre has discussed selling the track to Red Sox owner John Henry. No negotiations, they both said. Trust us. Just casual talk.

But is there more there? Henry has more than a passing interesting in NASCAR. He is part owner of the powerful Roush racing team and auto racing would fit nicely into his NESN sports-cable programming. Bahre is 81, and openly admits he's talking to people about selling, in part due to his age.

Plus, imagine all the fun "synergies" John Henry could come up with. "Synergy" in sports-business terms means using parts of your organization together to create more profitable results than using them separately.

It's why the Red Sox have such deep pockets: NESN is part of the package when you buy the Sox. For most baseball teams, the sports-cable franchise is owned by someone else, and the TV profits don't accrue so directly to the baseball team. Not in Boston -- it's all Henry's, and it's very profitable synergy. As a result, the Sox' payroll typically is second-highest in the Majors. (Thanks to NESN, Henry can dig a little deeper.)

Back to the fun part. How about Jeff Gordon -- Jennifer Lizotte's (our NASCAR blogger) favorite driver -- throwing out the opening pitch in April 2008 at Fenway?

Or, how about NESN's Tina Cervasio waving the green flag at Loudon next July?

Heck, the Sox' JD Drew has to be better at driving a pace car than he is at driving in runs...